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June 30, 2017

Do You Respect the Current Exercise Guidelines?

Sorry for missing two days, but the medical procedure I under went, left me fuzzy and not thinking clearly. I am not sure I clear headed, but felt this article is important.

While exercise is important for our health, but I find the
guidelines do not provide adequate exercise for the return in the amount
exercise.

It is well known that regular physical exercise has a
plethora of associated health benefits and has been shown to prevent and
improve symptoms across all types of diseases, but are the current guidelines
too challenging for the average person? We investigate.

Exercise has been hailed as somewhat of a miracle cure. It
is free, easy to do, works immediately, and has little to no side effects.
Scientific evidence has shown that, whatever your age, being physically active
makes you happier and healthier.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) 2008 Physical
Guidelines for Americans report that for adults, the most substantial
health benefits occur with at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) per
week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and
15 minutes) each week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.

Muscle strengthening (otherwise known as resistance
training) physical activities that involve all the main muscle groups and that
are moderate or high intensity should also be completed on 2 or more days every
week.

The 2008 Physical Guidelines for Americans document that
taking part in the equivalent of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic
activity each week lowers the risk of: premature death, coronary heart disease,
stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and depression.

Stepping up physical activity from 150 minutes each week
toward 300 minutes (5 hours) not only further lowers the risk of heart disease
and diabetes, but also reduces the risk of colon cancer and breast cancer, and
prevents unhealthy weight gain.

Moreover, increasing physical activity to more than the
equivalent of 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical
activity further increases the benefits. For example, people who complete 420
minutes (7 hours) each week have an even lower risk of premature death,
compared with individuals completing 150 to 300 minutes every week.

There are multiple ways to meet the recommended 150 minutes
of exercise. In fact, research conducted by the University of California, Los
Angeles Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh showed that
participating in a variety of activities - from walking and dancing, to
gardening - improves brain volume and may reduce a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's
disease by 50 percent.

It sounds easy enough: by working out for 30 minutes on 5
days of the week, those recommendations can be met. You would expect that with
all the potential health benefits, the whole population would be following the
recommendations and taking to the streets to walk briskly.

However, a huge proportion of the population is falling
short. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
around 49 percent of adults meet the aerobic physical activity guidelines, and
only 20.9 percent of adults meet the physical activity guidelines for both
aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity.

So what is going wrong? With our busy lives, 30 minutes of
moderate physical activity can be a challenging task to fulfill and may even be
regarded, by some, as impractical or unobtainable.

Many of us claim that we do not have the time, energy, or
inclination to fit in exercise. So not only are the guidelines and long-term
health benefits failing to engage the population, but they are also being
dismissed and ignored, and they even appear to be discouraging individuals to
participate in any physical activity at all.

The HHS guidelines were released nearly 10 years ago, and in
that time there has been considerable research into physical activity duration,
frequency, and intensity. Do we really need to accumulate 150 minutes of
physical activity every week? We take a look at some of the most recent
findings.

The good news is that some health benefits can be gained
with as little as 60 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, and some
research has shown positive results with even less exercise.

One moderate exercise session of 20 minutes stimulates the
immune system and sets off a cellular response that may help to suppress inflammation
in the body, found a study published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

These findings could help with treatment strategies for
chronic diseases such as fibromyalgia and arthritis, as well as obesity.

"Our study shows a workout session doesn't actually
have to be intense to have anti-inflammatory effects. Twenty minutes to half an
hour of moderate exercise, including fast walking, appears to be
sufficient," said Suzi Hong, Ph.D., in the Department of Psychiatry and
the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of
California, San Diego School of Medicine.

"Feeling like a workout needs to be at a peak exertion
level for a long duration can intimidate those who suffer from chronic
inflammatory diseases and could greatly benefit from physical activity."

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About Me

I am enjoying life, despite diabetes type 2. I am retired and enjoying the time I have for writing and photography. I was diagnosed with type 2 on Oct 2003, on oral meds for 4 months and they were doing nothing to really improve my daily readings. By cutting my carbohydrates I received the most improvement, but still not enough. Then I requested insulin, even though I did not like the thought of needles. That brought about the biggest change and A1c's in the lower 6's and upper 5's. Now I am working at maintaining them under 6.0 and hopefully nearer 5.5.